"So what did you call me here for?"
The moment Chunfeng received the call, he had assumed it was urgent and made the crossing by boat. Fortunately, he was still on vacation, staying in Bai Fanxian's village with his close subordinate. The island was less than twenty minutes away.
He had explained the "experiments" to his superiors and been granted an unusually long leave as the official "test subject." And the moment he arrived, no one could tell him a thing about what was going on!
Bai Fanxian sat calmly with her tea, Tang Yeye beside her. The girl laughed dryly and made a pouty face at her lady — held it long enough that she finally had to clear her throat and set something down on the table.
It looked like a lump of scrap metal. Chunfeng walked over and picked it up to examine.
"This is..." he murmured. However he looked at it, this was definitely "debris" from a pistol model commonly and widely used in the military.
"Where did you get this... do you want me to investigate to find its past owner?"
For someone in his line of work, the assumption made sense. The wreckage looked like it had come off a battlefield. If even a metal pistol was in this state, the user's fate was obvious. His mind went to armed incidents, unrest — somewhere high-powered weapons had been used.
"Mm... as for its owner..."
Bai Fanxian didn't answer. But she turned her eyes toward Liu Yianfei across the table. He startled.
Huang Zihuan, reading the confusion on Chunfeng's face, stepped in. He pulled out his phone and sent over the video clip he'd recorded.
The video showed Bai Fanxian extending her right arm, gun raised forward. Chunfeng stared at that delicate-looking upper arm, unable to imagine such tremendous strength coming from it.
Qi exploded from all over her body in an instant, then was sucked into the magazine. The moment she pulled the trigger, the explosion drowned out everything. Chunfeng could see a huge beam shoot straight, swallowing every target until not even debris remained. It shot into the wall before tearing through the tower's defenses, leaving a wide hole!
The image of the gun barrel unable to withstand the power, melting completely — that was what he was watching now. He turned to look at the gun wreckage on the table to compare, and could only gulp softly.
In the end, it was this Leader of his who had made it look like that!
"Got it... but why did you call me?"
Chunfeng sighed. He set aside any attempt to process what he'd just witnessed and focused on why she'd actually called.
"Remember your weapon was specially made..." she hinted.
"My pistol?"
Chunfeng nodded. He moved his shirt aside to reveal two silver pistols stored well in holsters at his chest. These guns were created especially for him.
"Yes. Can you contact the person who made it for me?"
Finally, Bai Fanxian stated her purpose. This weapon was beyond her understanding — better to leave it to people with expertise.
"Meaning, you want to create a pistol that can withstand shooting power like that, right?"
Chunfeng gulped. He understood what Bai Fanxian wanted. Even though he understood, he still wondered why. For someone like her, he saw no need for such a small gun. Just one wave of her hand would be enough to do the same damage.
"Not me. But this child."
Bai Fanxian glanced at Tang Yeye, who was laughing sheepishly beside her, scratching her head as if none of this had anything to do with her. But that alone was enough to make Chunfeng raise an eyebrow.
"Your disciple?"
He was surprised. At the same time, he looked Tang Yeye over, taking in her build and the size of her hands.
"Then it'll need special design to suit women and these small hands too."
Chunfeng murmured while taking out a notebook to record data. He gestured to estimate her hand width to relay to the organization's makers as accurately as possible.
"Weight shouldn't be a problem, right?"
He considered and asked again for certainty. If she was Bai Fanxian's disciple, she must be another extraordinary cultivator.
"Mm..."
Bai Fanxian nodded. The higher a cultivator's power, the more their body strength increased alongside it. So as long as this child wasn't lazy about training, even if these pistols weighed over ten kilograms each in the future, Tang Yeye could still swing them around without problem.
"We'll need to consult with them about the materials. But thinking about it, if your disciple's the one using it, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Chunfeng thought it through. That pistol had ended up in terrible condition because Bai Fanxian recklessly compressed power into it. But if the one using it was Tang Yeye, it wouldn't end up like that, right?
"Try it..."
Bai Fanxian chose not to answer and turned to order Tang Yeye to demonstrate instead. She went to the equipment crate Liu Yianfei had fortunately prepared with enough spare items. When she chose a satisfactory gun, she turned the barrel out toward the sea. With this Border's defensive power, they could be confident nothing would get through and hurt anyone.
She took a slow breath. The moment her concentration gathered to a certain point, her right eye seemed to glow. Tang Yeye did what her lady had taught her before.
*FLICKER...*
Blue qi spread throughout her body. That coldness pierced Chunfeng's skin in just a blink. The moment she pulled the trigger, all the power flowed together into the bullet shooting from the barrel!
*BANG!*
*CRACK!*
The sound following the trigger pull was different from Bai Fanxian's. The blue qi exploded outward, changing the sea ahead into an ice field in a split second! The white path extended about twenty meters into the sea. It held for about thirty seconds before the surging waves swallowed it and melted it away completely.
But the real problem was the gun. Ice had formed all over the barrel area. Though it wasn't comparable to Bai Fanxian's case — when the entire gun had nearly melted seamlessly — it still couldn't fire a second shot.
Bai Fanxian nodded as if this was what she had anticipated. Liu Yianfei, who had been silent throughout, secretly sighed. He looked at Chunfeng staring blankly toward the beach, reminded of his own past self.
Now he understood well.
It wasn't just Bai Fanxian who was beyond all reason.
The people close to her were no different!
.
.
.
When evening came, Bai Fanxian chose to eat dinner on this island instead of the beach house. Hui'er reluctantly came out of Gravity Heaven and was quite surprised to find that besides Bai Fanxian and Tang Yeye, Liu Yianfei and Chunfeng had also joined.
The elderly butler Huang Zihuan was in his element here. One small gesture set a long table for over ten guests. Another, and dishes floated out from the kitchen until the table was full.
However, when it came to his lady's tea — no matter what — Huang Zihuan always brewed it himself with both hands and carefully poured it into Bai Fanxian's cup with utmost sincerity.
"A lot happened while I was asleep."
Chunfeng was the one who had been out for many long weeks. After saying goodbye to Bai Fanxian yesterday, he had tracked down his close female subordinate to ask about everything that had happened during that time.
Bai Fanxian, it turned out, had not been idle. Besides research and visiting the clinic, she had been called out occasionally because of demonic beast sightings across the region.
Fortunately, the number of injuries and casualties hadn't risen much. But it made citizens start to feel insecure.
"Weren't you all the ones who shoved this position on me?"
Bai Fanxian complained. But anyway, she didn't have to handle everything personally. The military, on constant alert now, was managing most incidents before they spiraled.
"It's already late. You all go back first."
She set down her cup. Several who heard were confused.
"My lady, won't you return together?"
Hui'er was the one who asked.
No answer. She looked up at the night sky where she could see star clusters sparkling. This island was some distance from the mainland, not affected by pollution. You could say the sky here was more beautiful than the beach house.
And what she was staring at was the most prominent pale gold "moon" up there.
"Tonight's a full moon... do you still remember what Zhou Jingzi once told you?"
Tang Yeye and Hui'er felt cold air at the back of their necks and trembled slightly. And that made them recall the words of Zhou Jingzi, the former owner of this private island.
"...Maybe it really exists... that ghost."